TEMECULA: Hillcrest students mark Earth Day

Students at Hillcrest Academy in Temecula welcomed Earth Day this spring with a special science fair on campus Friday in which the children helped each other learn about several environmental topics.

Students in all grades at the private school had a few months to work on a grade-level project that incorporated science, math, art and writing, and focused on the theme of sustainability. To cap off the project, they manned booths on the campus' grass field on Friday and took turns presenting their projects to their fellow students.

The second-graders focused on recycling and reusing things by making a reusable shopping bag out of old T-shirts. They cut off the sleeves and sewed up the bottom, adding fringes and other decorative touches to the washable bags.

"The bigger you have them, the more you can put in them," explained second-grader Vaughn Havins, who made his bag from a large white shirt. And if you didn't want to use the bag for groceries, Vaughn noted, "For camping, you can sew up the sides and make it into a baby sleeping bag. I thought of that myself."

Fourth-graders focused their projects on the sun and solar energy.

Isabella Madrigal made a display of the color spectrum while Nish Sinha made a poster titled "Facts About the Sun." The students joined other fourth-graders in sharing their projects, using a variety of visual aids.

Students received a stamp card that showed they had learned about all the other projects by visiting the booths and listening to the student-led oral presentations.

"I've always wondered how the rainbow works. The prism helps separate light and dark to make a rainbow," Isabella explained, showing her chart.

"This project was really fun. We learned so much," said fourth-grader Sol Suda-Gonzales, who worked on the solar project. "We've been working so hard on it."

As part of their project, fourth-graders built a small machine with a solar cell attached that powered a pinwheel on the end from solar energy.

First-graders made pinwheels to show what they learned about wind energy. Third-graders learned about composting. The greenhouse effect and recycling were the focuses of projects made by the fifth-graders.

Seventh-graders learned about biogas, and eighth-graders focused on the future of transportation.

Some of the posters the students crafted as visual displays were titled "The Future of Getting Around," "The Uses of Solar Energy" and "What is the Greenhouse Effect."

This was the fourth year that students at Hillcrest Academy worked on projects related to Earth Day, but in past years, only students in the middle school grades made projects. This year, the younger students were included as well, teachers said.

"The kids are involved so it's meaningful to them," said fourth-grade teacher Elle Sablan, who helped coordinate the projects for students in the lower grades.

First-grade teacher Renee Gooding said, "We made it fun and more like a carnival and decided to incorporate more learning. The kids are getting to be teachers."